By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

WILLIAMS LAKE — They say you can’t go home again, but Andrew Pinette did and will never forget his wonderful week in Williams Lake.

Playing on the fairways where he logged hundreds of rounds as a kid and forged lifelong friendships, Pinette won the B.C. Senior Men’s Championship at Williams Lake Golf & Tennis Club.

The 55-year-old, now a resident of Surrey, had trouble putting into words what the win meant to him.

It is not a stretch to suggest that Pinette’s time as a junior golfer at Williams Lake more than 40 years ago helped shape his life. His family left Williams Lake when he was 16, but in many ways it still feels like home.

Pinette connected with some of his childhood buddies during the week and received messages of support from others. He felt like he was playing not only for himself but for them.

“Meeting up with some of my old friends and getting messages of support from all of the guys I used to golf with was special,” he said. “Williams Lake is community that many of us move away from, but we stay connected. I know they don’t really look at me as a local here now, but really I am. . .This is a victory not for me but for all of us. That’s how I feel.”

Pinette, now a member of Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club in Vancouver, won by four shots over Mike Legg of Prince George. Both players are ‘rookies’ in their first year of senior golf eligibility.
Pinette and Legg began the day tied for the lead at one-under par, one shot ahead of Kelowna’s Scott Humphreys.

Pinette took control early on the back nine. He made a great up-and-down for par on the par 3 11th hole, where Legg recorded a tough double-bogey. On the difficult par 4 12th hole, Pinette striped a drive down the middle and stuck his lob wedge approach shot to within four feet of the hole. He made a birdie, while Humphreys was making a double and Legg a bogey. Suddenly, he had a four-shot lead.

“I ended up looking at a text message saying I was 4-up, so I knew it was match play with Mike and I,” he said. “I kind of changed my focus and wanted to make sure I didn’t make any big numbers the rest of the way.”

Pinette closed with an even-par 71 to finish the 54-hole event at one-under par. Legg and Humphreys each shot 75 to finish at three- and four-over, respectively. Legg, a member at Aberdeen Glen Golf Course in Prince George, felt like his putter let him down in the final round. After making two tidy up-downs for par on the first two holes, he had short birdie putts on the next two holes.

He missed them both and that seemed to set the tone for his day. “It was frustrating missing those two short putts,” Legg said. “Normally, I consider myself a very good putter. I am going to have to go home and work on it. I thought about changing putters before coming here but stuck with the one I like.”

Legg did make things interesting when he clawed back to within two shots after 15 holes. But he could not get any closer and Pinette pretty much sealed the tournament when he made a brilliant up and down for par on the long par 4 17th hole to build a three-shot cushion heading home.

“I haven’t played a lot of competitive golf,” Pinette said. “This really hasn’t sunk in. I came here with my goal of being in the hunt. I love being in the hunt and I really hadn’t thought that far ahead (about winning). It’s a little surreal. It’s going to be great celebration. I am really happy.”

A B.C. Super-Senior Championship for players aged 65 and older was also contested at Williams Lake. It went to playoff where Lance Lundy of Pemberton beat Harry Ferguson of Invermere on the first extra hole. It was Lundy’s second B.C. Super-Seniors title.

Lundy and Ferguson had finished 54 holes at six-over par, one shot ahead of Vancouver’s Doug Roxburgh, the 13-time B.C. Amateur and five-time B.C. Senior Men’s champion.

A two-man better-ball competition was also contested at Williams Lake. Legg and partner William Gilbert of Prince George won with a score of 13-under par. That was three shots better than the team of Len Filek of Summerland and Marty Browne of Vernon and the twosome of Mark Dupuy and Mike Mannion, both of Victoria.

A 36-hole Zone championship was won by the Zone 5 team of Jim Shaw of Sooke, and Len Carlow and Mark Dupuy, both of Victoria. They finished at 10-over par, two shots better than the Zone 2 team of Norm Bradley of Kelowna, Stewart Scott of Kelowna and Don Brown of West Kelowna.

Click HERE for complete final scoring.

CHIP SHOTS: Pinette, Legg and Humphreys will represent B.C. in the inter-provincial team competition at the Canadian Senior Men’s Championship, which goes Sept. 5-8 at Big Sky Golf Club in Pemberton. The top 17 finishers and ties at Williams Lake earned exemptions into the Canadians Senior Men’s. . .Next year’s B.C. Senior Men’s Championship is scheduled to be played at Revelstoke Golf Club.